Medical help

MEDICAL equipment that was given by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) will be utilised in emergency services of urban hospitals in the country.

Medical equipment received included five EKG machines and five vital signs monitoring devices.

Fiji's ambassador to Turkey Robin Nair said TIKA was interested in a broad range of areas and services to help Fiji.

"We met this morning (Monday) with the permanent secretary for strategic planning and we have discussed the various short term approaches that Turkey can provide and it was in education, health and agriculture," Mr Nair said.

"Now we are talking with the Health Minister (Dr Neil Sharma) about what else we can do in the medical field and at this particular stage, equip our hospitals with equipment and train these people to use those machines."

He said Dr Sharma was compiling the list of urgent needs for the ministry.

"The most urgent need that the minister had highlighted was getting an ambulance that is fully equipped for cardiac patients.

"That is a short-term project that he has asked for and they will put up a project within days and hope that TIKA will be able to look into it if possible."

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency expert Canan Alpaslan said in time, they would expand and enhance the volume of collaboration with Fiji not only to technical co-operation but also in economic and cultural co-operation.